The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1789

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Fire

Fire is mentioned many times throughout The Marriage. It most commonly symbolizes the creative fire of the poet and prophet, ironically presented as the fires of Hell. Blake presents himself, for example, as “walking among the fires of hell, delighted with the enjoyment of Genius, which to Angels look like torment and insanity” (Plate 6). Fire is thus at the heart of Blake’s inversion of conventional categories. The same idea is presented in Plate 14, where Blake mentions that at the end of the 6,000-year existence of the world, it will be consumed by fire. Once again, however, this is symbolic of the creative fire, which burns away all limitations of perception to reveal the infinite. In Plate 22, Blake sees a Devil in a “flame of fire,” but, of course, this is a Blakean Devil who expounds upon the nature of God as seen through Blake’s eyes.

The surging flames of the Blakean “hell” can also be seen in many of the designs. The title page is an example, as well as Plate 3, where at the top a figure is entirely enveloped in flames (of desire and energy) and is liberated by the experience. The bottom of Plate 4 shows a Devil in flames, reaching out and trying to rescue a child who has been captured by an Angel of conventional morality and restraint. Plates 6 and 14 also show the fires of hell, with the same meaning as described above.

Fire also symbolizes the turbulence of political revolution. Rintrah, the voice of righteous wrath, “shakes his fires in the burden’d air” (Plate 2), and in the “Song of Liberty,” Orc, the spirit of revolution, is a “new born fire” (Plate 25) with “fiery limbs” and “flaming hair” (Plate 26).

The Eagle

The eagle soaring in the sky symbolizes the Poetic Genius, or the imagination. It suggests a kind of limitless being. One of the “Proverbs of Hell” expresses this succinctly: “When thou seest an Eagle, thou seest a portion of Genius; lift up thy head!” (Plate 9). In the third chamber of the printing process allegorically presented in Plate 15, an Eagle “with wings and feathers of air” causes “the inside of the cave to be infinite.” Once more, then, the eagle is a symbol of the Poetic Genius, creating infinite perception. Additionally, “Eagle-like men” build “palaces in the immense cliff” (Plate 15)—obviously, these eagle-like men embody the Poetic Genius as well.

The illustration at the bottom of Plate 15 shows a powerful eagle against a blue background. It has the viper of reason in its talons. The eagle is in charge, lifting the viper up in a cooperative, creative process. The eagle looks upward, as if inspired. A smaller version of the same eagle of inspiration appears on Plate 17, above the words “A Memorable Fancy.”

Flying Birds

Groups of small flying birds frequently appear in the illustrations, either in the margins or between the lines. They symbolize freedom, the buoyancy of expanded perception. Groups of five together likely symbolize the liberated five senses. The top right of the title page, for example, shows five flying birds. The lower-third of Plate 2, “The Argument,” also shows five soaring birds, in one group of two and another of three, separated by four lines of text. This suggests a message of hope—Rintrah’s wrath is going to bear positive fruits through the liberation of the senses.

In Plate 11, there are as many as 10 small birds depicted between the first seven lines, especially a larger one to the right of “numerous senses could perceive”, which could even be an eagle. Five birds appear again on Plate 17, shown to the right of the words “A Memorable Fancy,” and again on Plate 25, the first plate of the “Song of Liberty” (after Verses 4 and 9). Blake consistently uses these small details to reinforce and amplify his message. The designs back up the words of the Devil in Plate 6: “How do you know but ev’ry Bird that cuts the airy way, / Is an immense world of delight, clos’d by your senses five?”